Issue with Indexing Pages with Filtering, Search, and Attribute Parameters

  • Hello,

    I’m experiencing an issue with a large number of pages being indexed on my site. Hundreds or even thousands of URLs with filtering parameters in categories are getting indexed by Google, despite having the following rule in my robots.txt file for a long time:

    Disallow: */?filter*

    Additionally, I’ve set canonical URLs for each category.

    A similar issue occurs with search results. Pages with search parameters are being indexed, even though I have the following rule in my robots.txt:

    Disallow: */?s=*

    The same problem arises with attribute variations, such as:

    Disallow: */?attribute_pa_*

    Canonical pages are also set for products.

    In reality, all such pages should be marked in the header as nofollow and noindex, as their indexing negatively impacts my website’s ranking.

    Could you please suggest any solutions? Are there standard or recommended approaches for handling such situations in WooCommerce?

    I would greatly appreciate any advice!

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Plugin Support Zubair Zahid (woo-hc)

    (@doublezed2)

    Hello iamwpuser,

    Thank you for contacting WooCommerce support.

    I understand you are facing an issue where a large number of URLs with filtering parameters in categories are getting indexed by Google.

    To confirm, are you using any SEO plugin?
    Also, share the contents of the robots.txt file so I can inspect it.

    Once I have more information, I will be in a better position to assist you further.

    Looking forward to your response. ??

    Thread Starter iamwpuser

    (@iamwpuser)

    https://bit.ly/robotstxtt

    I use the free version of the yoast seo plugin

    Plugin Support Jonayed Hosen (woo-hc)

    (@jonayedhosen)

    Hi @iamwpuser

    Thanks for sharing the details and the link to your robots.txt file! ??

    To confirm, could you check if the Enable Archives option is selected for the attribute in question? You can find this by navigating to Products > Attributes, as shown in the screenshot below:

    If this option is checked, please uncheck it and see if that resolves the issue.

    If the issue persists after making this change, I recommend requesting Google to recrawl your website. This can often help with indexing updates. You can follow the steps in this guide for requesting a recrawl:  How to Request Google to Crawl Your Site

    That said, this forum is primarily for WooCommerce-related topics, and your query leans more toward SEO. For additional help, you might want to open a thread in the Yoast SEO support forum, as they specialize in SEO-related questions.

    I hope this points you in the right direction!

    Thread Starter iamwpuser

    (@iamwpuser)

    Archives always disabled, thank you

    • This reply was modified 5 days, 13 hours ago by iamwpuser.
    Plugin Support Zubair Zahid (woo-hc)

    (@doublezed2)

    Hello iamwpuser,

    Thank you for your reply.

    I understand that Archives was already disabled on your site.
    As suggested in the last message, this question is more related to the SEO.

    I recommend posting this question at the Yoast SEO support forum.
    They should be better equipped to guide you further.

    Have a great day!

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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